For the safety of animals being transported in vehicles, it is generally known to be desirable to restrain the animal relative to the vehicle to reduce likelihood of injury in the event of a vehicular collision.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,253,713 by Giedemann, U.S. Pat. No. 6,792,894 by Donaldson, U.S. Pat. No. 6,827,044 by Lobanoff, and U.S. Pat. No. 7,343,881 by Schantz et al generally relate to animal restraint devices for being secured about the animal in some manner. These devices generally do not permit anchoring to the vehicle by more than one anchoring location, such that in the event of a vehicular collision, the animal can be thrown in an unpredictable manner which may cause injury to the animal, other occupants of the vehicle, or both.
U.S. Pat. No. 8,474,413 by Aaron discloses a pet restraint harness for vehicles in which a harness is provided with two anchoring locations which are securable to various anchoring locations on the vehicle. Although the added anchoring locations compared to the previously noted devices provide some increased control over the restraint of the animal relative to the vehicle, the arrangement of the harness and the straps do not adequately distribute the force of impact across the torso of the animal. Furthermore, the fixed length connection of the harness to the vehicle limits the comfort of the animal, or is otherwise ineffective if the straps are configured with sufficient slack for comfort of the animal.